


A Victim of Your Charming Smile

by AlexandersStele



Series: Heline canon compliants [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Doubt, Episode: s03e17 Heavenly Fire, F/F, First Meetings, Flirting, Heline, Love at First Sight, Meet-Cute, forever bitter that we haven't seen all of the Blackthorns in the show, tw mention of death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-24 03:09:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20351386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexandersStele/pseuds/AlexandersStele
Summary: “You’re Helen Blackthorn, aren’t you?”, a young female shadowhunter asks her.A bit startled, Helen lifts her head and looks her right into the eyes. She had seen Aline Penhallow on pictures before but never in person. And damn, she is even more beautiful standing here in front of her than on the old photos Helen had seen ages ago.





	A Victim of Your Charming Smile

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to do a little series of canon-compliant one-shots for Heline which are set during or after the episodes of the show. This one is set during episode 3x17. Enjoy :)

Helen slowly walks past the guards who just arrested Victor Aldertree for his involvement in the Heavenly Fire project. The fact that they haven’t arrested her as well yet is still a mystery to her considering that she has been part of this project for so long. Lost in her thoughts she is making her way to her father’s house when suddenly a voice stops her.

“You’re Helen Blackthorn, aren’t you?”, a young female shadowhunter asks her.

A bit startled, Helen lifts her head and looks her right into the eyes. She had seen Aline Penhallow on pictures before but never in person. And damn, she is even more beautiful standing here in front of her than on the old photos Helen had seen ages ago.

“And you’re the Consul’s daughter.”, Helen almost whispers, not knowing why the beautiful woman stopped her in the first place but it was definitely not to flirt, taking into account what just happened.

Helen’s eyes widened, clearly concerned about the whole situation.

“I’m in big trouble, aren’t I?”, she asks, trying to hide her discomfort by forcing a small smile which makes her feel even more awkward in this situation as she already did before.

Get your shit together, Helen, she thinks without turning her eyes away from the attractive shadowhunter to catch her reaction and make sure she isn’t making a fool of herself. Which, in her opinion, she definitely is.

Aline, seemingly unbothered by Helen’s behavior, takes a deep breath without losing any of her confidence.

“You did go behind the Clave’s back and allow a maniac to concoct a plan to cleanse the world of demon blood…”, she responds in a lecturing voice, but her stone-cold stare softens immediately after she realizes the sadness that builds up in her opposite’s eyes.

“…but I admire you.”, she continues, leaving Helen confused and speechless.

Admire me? Helen asked herself. For what? She just helped a lunatic almost destroy all of New York’s Downworld. There’s nothing admirable about her.

She tries to lower her gaze but it’s impossible to take her eyes off the delicate features of the woman in front of her, so she just manages to tilt her head in question, inviting the other shadowhunter for an explanation.

“Without you, well, there might not be a Downworld, at least not in New York, anyway.”, Aline proceeds.

Helen gasps. She is not sure if Aline knows that Helen is not only a shadowhunter but also half-Seelie but there is a possibility. She’s the Consul’s daughter after all. She probably thinks Helen did all of this just because she is, in fact, half-Seelie. But she didn’t. She did it because she realized how wrong Aldertree’s project was. She did not know about the plan for New York. And how was she supposed to know? She was just a low-ranked worker who has been told that the project helps to cure Downworlders who’ve lost their track and to help pave their way for a normal life in mundane society. She never even questioned if all of this happened against the will of all these Downworlders they allegedly helped during her time in the facility. How couldn’t she have trusted Victor Aldertree? He was a high-ranked and respected Clave member. She never would have thought that all of this happened behind the Clave’s back but as soon as Isabelle Lightwood told her the truth about this project, she knew she had to act. Her heritage had nothing to do with that and she wanted Aline to know.

“I didn’t do it because I’m half-Seelie, you know.”, Helen explains.

“I never said you did.”, the Consul’s daughter answers immediately and smirks.

They stare at each other for a mere second before Aline walks off without saying another word. Helen turns around and looks after the gorgeous shadowhunter in confusion, a smile building upon her face before she continues making her way down to her family’s manor.

As soon as she arrives, she glares at the magnificent building in complete awe. She forgot how big it was but considering it had to house at least seven Blackthorn children, it was no surprise. And now she has it all to herself which felt kind of strange.

Helen hasn’t been to Idris or Alicante in years. Her father and her six siblings moved to the Los Angeles Institute shortly after Tavvy was born and their mother died. She was 15 back then and she remembers vividly how the mood changed around that time. Even though she wasn’t her birth mother, she’d always treated her as one of her own, so the change of scenery was to erase that constant reminder of their mother’s death. Moving out of this house was inevitable back then and standing in front of it again just reminded her how much she missed her family but none of them would be here to greet or comfort her. If the Clave hadn't asked her to be around for more questions in the next few days, Helen would've packed immediately and made her way to the Los Angeles Institute. But she can’t.

She enters the building and realizes that everything looks exactly the same as she remembers it from back when she and her family were living here. But how couldn’t it? No one lived here since they moved out. The only visible differences are the thick layers of dust and the spiderwebs that are spread all over the hall and she guessed that the bedrooms wouldn’t look any different from this. Why couldn’t the angels give them a rune for cleaning up? It would make life so much easier.

Helen makes her way up to the second floor where her childhood bedroom used to be. The leaf carvings on her bedroom door are still fully intact. Only now, a thick layer of dust resides on them. She absent-mindedly touches the carvings on her door before she opens it. Everything is still in the same place. Her bed, the wardrobe and even the drawings she made as a child are still plastered all over the walls. She doesn’t really remember why she didn’t take them with her when they moved to LA, but she figured she didn’t want to be reminded of the time she spent here.

It was a very long day and Helen is exhausted. The lengthy interrogation from the Clave and the fear of facing major consequences for her actions have made her tired. She takes off the plastic cover of her old bed and doesn’t even bother to change the sheets before she drops on them.

The sheets smell a bit weird after all this time, but she couldn’t care less at the moment. All she needs now is sleep but as soon as she closes her eyes, her conversation with the Consul’s daughter comes to her mind. She can’t get over the fact that Aline told her she admires her. Was she just trying to be nice? Did Helen read too much into the situation because of her own attraction to the dazzling shadowhunter? Aline was clearly eying her when she walked away, wasn’t she? Maybe it was all in her head. She doesn’t even know if Aline is into girls.

It didn’t matter anyway. As soon as Helen finishes the Clave’s questioning, she would make her way back to her family in LA. Or worse, she will be thrown into the guard for her wrongdoings. All kinds of scenarios go through Helen’s mind. They wouldn’t really throw her in the guard, would they? If they question her with the Soul-Sword the truth will come out. She has nothing to worry about. But what if they didn’t question her with the Soul-Sword? It wouldn’t be the first time that the Clave wrongly imprisons people. No, they wouldn’t do that to her. Helen tries to sleep again and this time she succeeds.

The next morning, she doesn’t recall much of what she was dreaming during the night, but there is one thing she clearly remembers: Aline’s voice. Could it be possible that she’s fallen for the young shadowhunter? No, that’s not possible. They only had one short conversation. She has to be reasonable. There is no way. She pushes these thoughts aside as she has Clave business to attend in an hour. Her whole status and career are dependent on the outcome of this interrogation, so she needs to focus.

Helen makes her way down to the Guard but she can’t get rid of this weird feeling in her stomach. Is it fear? Is it her nerves? Or is it something else entirely? She doesn’t really care what the Clave would be asking her. She isn’t here to lie, and she clearly isn’t here to excuse Aldertree’s doings. She slowly realizes that there is, in fact, only one question that she can’t get rid of: Will Aline be there?


End file.
